I have been trying to procure some Pimento Liqueur. Wray & Nephews make it in Jamaica, but to not send it to the states. Does anyone know how, or where a fellow TCer could get a bottle of the stuff to make a few glorious tropical drinks with? I'm not against trying to make it myself, if giving a "good" recipe. Please help!

It is nearly impossible to obtain in the U.S. I've been looking in liquor stores for years without any luck. They usually think you're looking for olives with pimentos.

Internet seaches have also turned up zip. A year or 2 ago there was a site that offered it, but it seemed to always be "on order" and unavailable until further notice. I know one person who ordered it from the web site but I don't know if they ever received a bottle (did you Randy?).

I have even called stores that sell Jamaican products with no results except "you have to go to Jamaica, mon".

I have considered going to Jamaica on vacation so I can buy a couple bottles.
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Yes, I too have been unsuccessfully searching for this for some time. I do have a recipe that I found for making it, but it calls for fresh pimentos and all I have ever been able to find is dried. I think I posted it once before, but (if i can find it) I can post it again.

My understanding is that "pimento" in this particular case does NOT refer to the little red thangs in olives, but rather to pimento berries, which are the same as allspice berries...which are what we get "allspice" from. That is, the stuff that smells like pumpkin pie spices, ya know, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves etc. It's IN pumpkin pie spice mixes, I think.

So if I could find allspice berries, say at a health food store/special market, I could make pimento liqueur. I think. In theory.

Pimento liqueur is made by wray and nephew the rum guys in Jamaica. un fortunatly it is no longer available in this country. I think in the days when I ran the bar at the Rainbow Room here in NYC I may have been one of the three users of thre product in the States and they just decided to throw in the towel. However if yo take white rum and steep allspice berriaes in it, then add simple syrup and strain when the flavor is strong enough, you will approximate the product. pimento is an allspice berry liqueur

On 2003-09-24 13:25, tikivixen wrote:My understanding is that "pimento" in this particular case does NOT refer to the little red thangs in olives, but rather to pimento berries, which are the same as allspice berries...which are what we get "allspice" from. That is, the stuff that smells like pumpkin pie spices, ya know, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves etc. It's IN pumpkin pie spice mixes, I think.

So if I could find allspice berries, say at a health food store/special market, I could make pimento liqueur. I think. In theory.

Whether or not it would taste anything like the Jamaican stuff I don't know, and that's important. That's why I haven't tried it myself. If I had a bottle of the real stuff to compare it to I might try it.

The above site is a great source of info on making your own liqueurs.
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Yeah, Jab, that's right, the interweb source for pimento liqueur was a dud. We've got some allspice "berries" in our spice cabinet though. Maybe we should just make a drink with all the other ingredients and then suck on those. Maybe not.

Yes, "pimento" is allspice berries, or more accurately pimento berries from which allspice is made. I have found dried pimento berries, but not fresh. Here is the recipe that I found for pimento liqueur, which calls for fresh pimento berries but seems to me that it could be adapted for dried.

Place the berries in the rum and lime for three days. Crack the cinnamon and boil in 2 quarts waters. Strain and boil with 4 lb. of sugar for 10 minutes. Squeeze out the berries and add the syrup when cold. Strain through clean muslin cloth and bottle.

Have you seen the price of dried allspice berries? The cheapest ones I've seen are in those cellophane bags and the bag had only about a quarter cup inside it. 1.5 quarts (as called for in that recipe) would cost a fortune!
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If anyone is planning on trying out that recipe, it might be best to start with only 1/2 quart (2 cups?) of the allspice since you'd be using dried berries. When substituting dried herbs for fresh, the most common conversion is 1 part dried herb for every 3 parts fresh. That would definitely drop the cost of a batch.

I've never taste the commercial Pimento Liqueur and would be interested to see if this would be a close second (or maybe even better). It would definitely be cheaper than a trip to Jamaica, but not nearly as much fun!

It looks like making it ourselves is the way to go for now! Like Jab, I would prefer to actually try the real stuff before making my own, but I'm sure it will taste good anyway right? I mean, I like spices and love rum!